Luftwaffe gets the official bullet

The word "Luftwaffe" is to be removed from aircraft used by German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and other top Government officials in a belated attempt to exorcise the ghosts of the Nazi past.

Nearly 60 years after World War II ended, the move to stop identifying politicians' aircraft with a name redolent of wartime bombardment was initiated by German President Johannes Rau.

The plan was unveiled in the same week in which Germany held a brainstorming session in London to develop a new "brand" for the country as part of the campaign to leave the past behind.

German sensitivities came to the surface last week when Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was forced to apologise for remarks in which he compared a German member of the European Parliament with a Nazi concentration camp guard. Mr Rau's office said he wanted to avoid stirring up painful memories of the blitzkrieg and terror bombing in countries he and Mr Schroeder visited by air.

"Obviously, when the President flew to countries where there are certain historic resentments against the Luftwaffe, he didn't exactly get off to a good start when the plane landed with that word dominating the plane," one official said. ");document.write("

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"It wasn't the best advertisement for a modern-day republic to have this staring out at hosts as President Rau walked down the aircraft steps."

Mr Rau has travelled to 66 countries during his four years in office. Officials said the Luftwaffe logo particularly raised eyebrows in Eastern Europe. During the war, Warsaw fell victim to the first mass bombing raids as Luftwaffe Stukas helped reduce the city to rubble.

The word "Luftwaffe" will be replaced by "Bundesrepublik Deutschland" - Federal Republic of Germany. Mr Rau was inspired by the US President's Air Force One, which is emblazoned with the words United States of America, rather than US Air Force or any other branch of the military.

Germany has launched a campaign to undo decades of "mistrust and stereotyping" and encourage Britons to think beyond Fawlty Towers sketches about Hitler salutes when they contemplate Germany.

Catherine Mayer, Britain correspondent for the German news magazine Focus, said: "The people behind this campaign feel modern-day Germany has a lot more to offer and want to get that across."

A "Cool Britannia"-style rebranding of modern-day Germany launched last year, aimed at British schoolchildren and spearheaded by celebrities such as Claudia Schiffer, failed to make any impression, according to a poll released by the Goethe Institute last week. Hitler regularly emerges in surveys as the most famous German, despite the fact that he was Austrian.

Luftwaffe spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Gunther Katz said the German Air Force had not opposed the change as it was a matter for politicians.